The present invention generally relates to the field of integrated circuit design, and particularly to an interscalable interconnect.
Integrated circuits (IC) have become one of the most necessary components in modern devices. From automobiles and cell phones, to kitchen appliances and video gaming devices, integrated circuits provide a variety of functions. To provide this variety in an optimized manner, application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) may be utilized.
An application specific integrated circuit is generally designed for a specific application rather than as a general-purpose chip. The use of application specific integrated circuits improve performance over general-purpose chips, because application specific integrated circuits are xe2x80x9chardwiredxe2x80x9d to do a specific job, and may thus, not incur the overhead of fetching and interpreting stored instructions. Thus, an application specific integrated circuit may perform an electronic operation in an optimized manner providing that the circuit design is efficiently architected.
However, producing such a wide range of application specific integrated circuits, each having targeted functionality, may be complex, expensive and time consuming. For example, the very size of the circuit, which may include a variety of clock domains, may require extensive testing, verification and redesign before an operational model is produced.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an interscalable interconnect.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an interconnect. The present invention provides a comprehensive design environment defining a system architecture and methodology that may integrate interconnects, cores, ePLC, re-configurable processors and software into a manageable and predictable system designs that achieve on-time system IC design results meeting desired specifications and budgets. For example, the present invention may provide a scalable, temporal interconnect-fabric with standardized core interfaces, and implement a methodology to integrate configurable processors, and solution software to design an integrated circuit.
In a first aspect of the present invention, a method for designing an integrated circuit includes manipulating representations of components of an integrated circuit on a display device by a user. An interconnect is specified having a characteristic between a first component representation and a second component representation. An integrated circuit is synthesized having a first component corresponding to the first component representation, a second component corresponding to the second component representation, and an interconnect corresponding to the specified interconnect, the interconnect including the characteristic.
In a second aspect of the present invention, a method of designing an integrated circuit includes manipulating representations of components and interconnects of an integrated circuit on a display device by a user. A direct connectivity definition is derived from the manipulated components and interconnects. An integrated circuit is synthesized based on the direct connectivity definition derived from the manipulated components and interconnects.
In a third aspect of the present invention, a system for designing an integrated circuit includes a display device, the display device suitable for displaying representations of components of an integrated circuit for manipulation by a user. A memory is also included, the memory suitable for storing a program of instructions. A processor suitable for performing a program of instructions is communicatively coupled to the display device and the memory. The program of instructions configures the processor to display representations of components of an integrated circuit for manipulation by a user on the display device so that a user may specify an interconnect having a characteristic between a first component representation and a second component representation. An integrated circuit synthesizing device is also provided for synthesizing an integrated circuit having a first component corresponding to the first component representation, a second component corresponding to the second component representation, and an interconnect corresponding to the specified interconnect, the interconnect including the characteristic.
In a fourth aspect of the present invention, an application specific integrated circuit includes a first component suitable for providing an integrated circuit function, the first component communicatively coupled to a first interface device, a second component suitable for providing an integrated circuit function, the second component communicatively coupled to a second interface device. An interconnect communicatively couples the first interface device with the second interface device so as to enable communication of the first component with the second component. The interconnect is interscalable and isochronous.
In a fifth aspect of the present invention, a system of designing an integrated circuit includes means for manipulating representations of components of an integrated circuit on a display device by a user and means for specifying an interconnect having a characteristic between a first component representation and a second component representation. Means for synthesizing an integrated circuit having a first component corresponding to the first component representation, a second component corresponding to the second component representation, and an interconnect corresponding to the specified interconnect, the interconnect including the characteristic, are also provided.
It is to be understood that both the forgoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the invention and together with the general description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.